A Durango School District 9-R board member said he is worried voters may have misconceptions about a $150 million bond issue that the school district is seeking this November.
Specifically, 9-R Board Treasurer Rick Petersen said some voters are under the impression the board did not take long enough to draft the bond language. He also took issue with an editorial published earlier this month in The Durango Herald that referred to the bond issue as a mill levy.
But those concerns may be missing the point: Criticism of the proposed bond issue has centered on the lack of specificity about how the $150 million will be spent, specifically when it comes to affordable housing for teachers, more so than how long the board spent drafting it.
And while the bond issue is not technically a mill levy, if passed it does create a new mill levy for property owners who live within Durango School District 9-R’s boundaries.
For example, when the school district passed a $90 million bond issue in 2020, it created a 5.78 mill on residents’ tax bills.
“If there is a new Durango School District bond, my expectation is that there would be a new tax authority created with the appropriate tax/mill levy,” said La Plata County Treasurer Ann “Moni” Grushkin in an email to the Herald.
Petersen said the bond issue allows funding to be used for infrastructural purposes only; it can’t be used for teacher pay and programs like a mill levy override may.
As a member of the district’s long-range planning committee, Petersen said the bond language has been in the works for close to two years.
“We had, I'm going to say, at least 20 community meetings,” Petersen said. “We had one at every school in the district.”
Ahead of the vote, the school district has touted its scoring in the top 20% of all districts in the state – ranked 11th of all districts over 1,000 students, with the largest increase in reading and math proficiency.
The district has also risen to an A-minus rating on Niche.com, a prominent website for ranking universities and school districts.
The 2024 bond measure will ask voters for a total of $150 million for building upgrades and affordable housing options for teachers.
Voters will be asked in November to consider funding infrastructure changes, which would result in a tax increase of about $14 per month for a home valued at $500,000, according to the bond language.
“The reality is, our school district covers 1,100 square miles, and the value of the home on Third Avenue is very different from the potential value of the home in Marvel,” Petersen said. “It's difficult to say what your home will cost, because we have such a diverse area and group of people that that's the bottom line.”
Bond money would be used to build a new elementary school at Three Springs, allowing the district to relocate some existing facilities to the current Florida Mesa Elementary School, which will then close in favor of the new school.
One of the primary selling points for the district is the possibility of moving the bus depot to the Florida Mesa facility.
Doing so would free up the plot of land on Highway 3 for potential development of affordable housing units for staff members.
Critics of the district’s plan point out that the district has not established a set plan for affordable housing units.
“Once you put language in a bond that says specifically you're going to do this for this amount, you are bound by law to do that,” Petersen said.
Uncertain about potential community collaborations and interested developers, Petersen said the district was cautious about including a detailed plan in the bond language.
“We're doing everything we can to boost teacher salaries within the limited funds we receive from the state,” Petersen said. “Even though we've increased salaries by 20% over the last four years, it's still really hard to live here. With $2,500 rents and a starting salary of $52,000, the math just doesn't work. That said, we're committed to this.”
Other potential investments for the school district using bond money will include:
- School maintenance
- New furniture
- Additions to the SOIL learning lab at Riverview Elementary School
- Installation of LED light bulbs for school facilities
tbrown@durangoherald.com
